Welcome to my Blog. I write primarily about bluegrass music and the bluegrass experience. I also review books I read as well as offering road notes and travel entries. Come in and look around to see whether there's anything here for you. Be sure to check the archives and the labels. Please leave comments. I try to respond to all of them.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

What Does Family Friendly Mean? - Essay

The essay below was carried on the Welcome Page of the California Bluegrass Association on Monday and will be included in the festival booklet of the Father's Day Festival at Grass Valley this weekend. I'm flattered that they thought it captured the spirit they seek to embody in this well-known festival. As usual, I look forward to your comments.

Some people give Milton Harkey and
Doyle Lawson credit for creating the “family friendly” bluegrass
festival out of the chaos of festivals in the 1970's. As nearly as I
can tell, the first recognizable multi-day bluegrass festival held
in Fincastle, VA over Labor Day weekend in 1965 was a glorious event
attracting bluegrass fanatics from as far away as New York to attend.
Phil Zimmerman has written an account of his memory of Fincastle
which catches the spirit
of the event. My sense is that the attendees were a
multi-generational group of local Appalachian country people, members
of the burgeoning folk/bluegrass community who were making music in
Washington Square in New York, practically all the extant bluegrass
bands available in 1965, and some people who were on the cusp of
forging the counter-culture that would grow and flourish into the
70's. They fit together in this new environment and had a wonderful
weekend, which those who were there remember vividly. Somehow, over
the next twenty years, festivals increased in numbers and bluegrass
bands did, too. The bands were, like the original Fincastle
attendees, composed of country people and city billies making,
reproducing, and creating a rich musical culture.

The audiences were increasingly
influenced by the times and a growing youth culture where so-called
hippies, often smoking pot, and motorcycle groups (I hesitate to use
the word “gangs”) as well as older and more settled folks warily
mixed, or didn't, with each other. There were, perhaps, some
incidents and violence, discouraging some people from coming to
events where they felt their own safety and enjoyment were
compromised as well as that of their children, who they wished to be
able to run free in the country for a relaxed weekend of music. Into
this environment, at least according to legend, Milton Harkey and
Doyle Lawson, at the Denton FarmPark, eliminated the hippies and
bikers by cleaning out the drugs and alcohol which many found
objectionable. The Family festival was born.

Family Festival became a code phrase
for a bluegrass festival where drugs, alcohol, and people who might
be seen as “undesirables” were unwelcome. It strikes me that
many who were excluded as being somehow undesirable in the seventies
and eighties are now grandparents who are eminently acceptable.
Visible alcohol is generally viewed as being publicly unacceptable in
“family” festivals, although it's been my experience that,
particularly as the evening wears on, there's plenty of alcohol being
consumed, sometimes hidden in “coozies”, sometimes not hidden so much.
There seems to be an assumption that seeing the consumption of
alcohol is somehow bad for children. Meanwhile, although fewer and
fewer people smoke at all, those who do are increasingly defensive
and resentful about their habit that they resolutely light up
regardless of the comfort or health of others. Finally, sound levels
maintained at many events are so high that they can cause significant
and permanent damage to children's ears. We recently attended an
event at which the sound was so loud it was obviously painful to dogs
near the stage. We saw a woman standing in front of the speakers with
an infant on her chest in a baby sling. Could there be anything
less child friendly than such loud noise? Can an event where
children must breathe secondary smoke and have their ears assaulted
by dangerous levels of sound be called “Family Friendly.” On the
other hand, must promoters deprive themselves of a significant source
of revenue by refusing to serve, sell, and regulate the use of beer
and other alcohol in order to be called family friendly?

So what makes a festival truly family
friendly? Family friendly means more than making a statement that an
event is “Family Friendly.” It requires that festival organizers
take positive action to make sure there are activities aimed at
children and that the grounds offer a safe and welcoming setting for
children. One festival we have often attended sets aside an activity
area with games, arts & crafts, and supervision where parents
could feel free to leave their children for several hours at a time.
Another has a large sand pit (usually a beach volley ball court)
where small children play for hours while their parents sitting
nearby can still see the stage. We've seen pony rides and inflatable
slides or bouncers at several festivals. Festivals held in large
campgrounds have a huge advantage here, because they often have
swimming pools or playgrounds available. Adding game rooms,
basketball hoops, and a swimming pool makes a festival teen friendly,
too.

Perhaps the most important elements for
making a bluegrass festival family friendly revolve around learning
and making music. Kids camps, staffed by willing professional
musicians and volunteers serve an important goal in teaching and
furthering bluegrass music. It's sad that several festivals we attend
have seen their kids camps reduced in size or eliminated in the face
of cost cutbacks. While this may aid in meeting the current budget,
the long range consequences are fewer attendees of child rearing age
and less interest in making music among elementary age and teenage
children. While staffing a full-fledged kids camp can require a staff
and providing a budget, it turns out to be an investment in music and
in attendance. A place set aside for young people's jamming works,
too. We recently attended a noted "family friendly" festival where there were lots of kids roaming the grounds, but virtually none carrying instruments.

The promoter's role in all this,
besides organizing and providing for functions that make a festival
family friendly is to have some courage. Because promoters are
reluctant to offend paying customers, they often either don't set
standards or are reluctant to enforce those standards they do set. We were at a festival where the emcee announced the “rules”
in such a way as to seem to be apologizing for the fact that the
promoter had established a few limits. Rules are rarely spoken of
when the audience is full. We also attend festivals where security,
whether volunteer or police detail, are present and evident. When
standards regarding smoking, drunkenness, and rowdyism are enforced,
it doesn't take long for those attending to adjust their behavior to
the rules. Removing a few people from the grounds will inevitably
lead to increased attendance. After all, the vast majority of people
attending festivals know how to behave like adults, govern their
behavior, and know how be considerate of those around them. It is clear that
making a festival “Family Friendly” will result in broader
attendance and increased revenues. However, being Family Friendly
must always be more than a slogan.

Google Analytics Code

Enter Amazon Here

If you wish to support this blog and no cost to yourself, use this portal to Amazon.com whenever you wish to purchase from them. When you do so, I receive a small commission, and your purchase costs you nothing additional. Thanks for your support.

Subscribe By E-mail

About Me

With my wife Irene, I travel about 200 days a year to bluegrass events. On the road we live in a 26 foot travel trailer with out cat, Callie, our computers, books, and each other. I publish a blog called Ted Lehmann's Books, Bluegrass and Brainstorms and we maintain a YouTube channel which displays our own videos of bluegrass performances. It has been a surprising journey, which we began in earnest after my retirement. Join us we continue on it.

My You Tube Channel

You can see the full collection of videos I've posted by going to my You Tube Channel. Most videos are now being recorded by Irene.